Ascension
by Liaranne
Summary: One-Shot, Songfic to Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. WARNING: Character Death. Danny finally confronts his enemy.


**Ascension**

by Liaranne

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or related characters. I do not own the song Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. I do not own City of Angels. I'm just a poor student trying to find scholarships to pay for my college education. Now that we have the formalities out of the way, on with the story!

Danny looked at his enemy. The enemy he had hid from, who had chased him, for years. The enemy who had murdered his parents just days ago. The enemy he swore to destroy. The enemy that he had turned to and chased back… to find that he was coming back here. Here, back to Danny's home.

And now? Now, Danny Phantom stood in the wreckage of an innocent game, stared at by the terrified faces, defiant, held hostage by his worst enemy. His teachers, his schoolmates, his friends. His family.

"Let them go."

_And I'd give up forever to touch you_

Vlad Plasmius sneered at the boy. Danny was 18 years old, now, and finally facing the enemy who had torn his family apart. Plasmius still had no respect for him.

And now he was in the middle of the people most precious to him.

Plasmius threw down Tucker Foley and Samantha Manson, the only two humans who before this night knew of both the halfas. The two humans he had been holding in his hands, paralyzed by some strange device.

'_Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
_

And now, an entire football field of spectators had witnessed the attack, saw Danny transform, and heard his accusations against the murderer who floated before them. Now Jazz Fenton, standing there amongst the Homecoming crowd, could feel rightfully proud of her brother, in public view, while still feeling scared for him.

Sam and Tucker lay on the ground. Vlad's eyes narrowed as he aimed an ectoplasmic beam at the two. A bright green light blinded the observers who remained – most had evacuated the scene of the battle. Mr. Lancer, Valerie, Kwan, and especially Jazz were among the few faces that remained. Dash and Paulina, among others, were notably absent.

_You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
_

Danny was glowing with a fantastic (or is it phantasmic?) neon green aura. His eyes were as bright as spotlights, and he lit up the football field as the electricity was cut by Plasmius's beam attack. A shield, set from over fifty feet away, now covered his two friends and his sister, who had run over to help. Jazz was checking Sam and Tucker, trying to wake them up. Danny turned to the other spectators, and reached out a hand. Another shield rose above them, to protect them from the fatal battle that would come.

For Danny knew of one way to stop Plasmius. They were equals on their immortal footings. Titans of the soul. And when an equation balances, hanging by the equals sign, subtracting one side from the other always has the same end. An empty circle whose existence began as a place holder. A zero. Nothing.

_And I don't want to go home right now_

And as he flared into the sky like a shooting star, the boy looked back at his friends, his family. His whispered, _"I'm sorry,"_ somehow reverberating through their collective consciousnesses as his single tear fell from the sky and he turned to face his greatest foe. His only foe.

_And all I can taste is this moment  
_

As Sam and Tucker sat up, recovering from their tumble back to earth, the two best friends looked at Danny, then at each other, then back to Danny.

And all present witnessed as Danny attacked Vlad. As the Phantom of the night attacked the fiery demon who had twisted the word "Plasma". As a benevolent, hidden darkness and goodness and brightness attacked a twisted, hulking Grendel, a snake in the grass.

_And all I can breathe is your life  
_

The older halfa fought back, viciously, as the sorrowing, righteous fury of the younger pounded him. And then, something happened that Plasmius least expected. As the Halfa of Amity Park dodged a stray ectoplasmic beam, he turned and attacked, but instead of pulling a punch, he grabbed Vlad's wrists and green eyes stared into red, asking why it had to be this way, and saw no remorse, no emotion. And the green eyes turned hard, and did what they had to do.

_Cause sooner or later it's over  
_

Danny's friends, the remnants of his family, and his schoolmates watched as their world exploded in an ectoplasmic holocaust. And then, as the twin fireworks of green and red faded in the night, and two bodies fell to the ground from fifty feet in the air.

_I just don't want to miss you tonight  
_

Two human bodies.

_And I don't want the world to see me  
_

"Danny!" The cry leapt from several throats simultaneously, perhaps the loudest being those the least in shock of what they just heard – Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. For they had already known – none of the halfa's other friends (for he had a few, now) or acquaintances had. And now, they raced towards the inert form in the grass, the youth instinctively curled into a fetal position; as they raced, Sam in the lead, just barely followed by Tucker and Jazz, with the other spectators a good ten feet behind.

_Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
_

Sam reached him first. "Danny! DANNY!" 

_When everything's made to be broken  
_

She fell to her knees, leaning over him, sobbing, as Tucker and Jazz arrived. Sam reached out an touched him, and heard the rattling breath. And his head ended seated on her lap as they looked into each others eyes.

_I just want you to know who I am  
_

"Oh, Danny…" Sam said.

He smiled at her. "Sam…"

"Shh," she hushed him. "It'll be all right."

His smile grew wider, sadder. "No, Sam," he said, kindly. "Not in the way you think it will be."

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming

"Danny, what do you mean?" That was Tucker. Good old Tuck, standing by him at all times.

Or the moment of truth in your lies

"It's over. It's finally all over," was Danny's soft response. "There's nothing left, guys."

_When everything feels like the movies  
_

"No, Danny! There's everything left. There's your life! You can finally live now," pleaded Sam. "It's not over, Danny! Don't give up on us now."

"Yeah, man. You finally get to celebrate, now," said Tucker.

Oh, what good friends they were, trying to cheer him up like this!

"_Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive,"_ was the only response he could give, softly sung as he moved his hands from his midsection, showing the unbelievably red stain of his shirt. Blood. Too much blood.

"Oh, my God…" That was Jazz. And the retching noise in the background… that had to be Jesse, a friend from school._  
_

"No! Danny!" cried Sam at the sight. "No…"

_And I don't want the world to see me  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am._

He softly sang the song, his favorite song, thought he'd never admitted it in public. _  
_

_I don't want the world to see me  
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
When everything's made to be broken  
_

And he looked into Sam's eyes, and squeezed her hand.

_I just want you to know who I am  
_

And he looked at Mr. Lancer.

_I just want you to know who I am  
_

And he looked at Kwan and Valerie.

_I just want you to know who I am  
_

And he looked at Cory and Jesse and David and Amanda and Jen and all the other classmates who had known him for so long but had not really known him.

_I just want you to know who I am  
_

And he looked at Tucker, and at Jazz, with such sweet sorrow written on his face.

_I just want you to know who I am._

And he looked into Sam's eyes again. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

Vlad Masters groaned from his position on the ground.

For the brave young man had scored only a partial victory. In protecting his family, his friends, with the ectoplasmic shield, he destroyed the balanced. Vlad had not sustained a mortal wound.

As Sam realized this, she was in shock. She ran looked at the older man and clenched a fist, bent on doing something, _anything_, to keep him from hurting Danny again. Tucker followed her gaze and her expression. The two stood to do something that they would later regret.

"Stop!" Danny gasped, "Stop it, guys!" They stopped and looked at him.

"Why, Danny? Why do you have to die and he doesn't!" Sam demanded.

There were many things he could have said: _Because that's life and it's not fair,_ or _Because I had to protect you with the shield, and the equation did not balance, _or _Because I love you. I love you, and I did not want you to see me kill._

"He can't hurt you anymore," was all Danny gasped out. "He's human. He can be dealt with now. Humans… humans have to solve their own problems…"

"Danny?" asked Sam, "Danny! DANNY!"

Danny Fenton was dead.

As a Phantom spirit dissipated in the wind that blew across the field, anyone who would have been able to see it would have seen it smile. His mission was finally over. He could rest.

Until he was needed again.


End file.
